Daniel Ek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel Ek
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Ek in 2011
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| Born |
Daniel Georg Ek
21 February 1983 Stockholm, Sweden
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| Occupation | Businessman |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Title | CEO and co-founder of Spotify |
| Spouse(s) |
Sofia Levander
(m. 2016) |
| Children | 2 |
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Daniel Georg Ek (born 21 February 1983) is a Swedish businessman. He is famous for being the co-founder and CEO of Spotify. Spotify is a very popular service where you can listen to music online. As of 2024, he is a very wealthy person.
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Early life and education
Daniel Ek grew up in Rågsved, a part of Stockholm, Sweden. He finished high school in 2002. After that, he studied engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. However, he left after only eight weeks. He wanted to focus on his career in information technology (IT).
Career
How Daniel Ek Started His Career
Daniel Ek had an important job at a company called Tradera. This company ran online auctions. Later, it was bought by eBay. He also worked as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Stardoll. This was a game and fashion website.
After that, he started his own company called Advertigo. It was an online advertising business. Advertigo was sold in 2006. Then, Ek briefly became the CEO of μTorrent. This company made software for sharing files. He worked with its founder, Ludvig Strigeus. μTorrent was later sold in 2006. Ludvig Strigeus later joined Daniel Ek to work on Spotify.
Creating Spotify
After selling Advertigo, Daniel Ek had enough money to retire. But after a few months, he wanted a new challenge. This led him to create Spotify. He first thought of Spotify in 2002. At that time, a music sharing service called Napster had closed. Another illegal site, Kazaa, became popular.
Ek realized that laws alone could not stop illegal music sharing. He believed the only way was to create something better. This new service also needed to pay the music industry. This idea became Spotify.
Daniel Ek started Spotify AB with Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm in 2006. Lorentzon had worked at TradeDoubler. This was the company that bought Ek's Advertigo. In October 2008, Spotify launched its music streaming service. At first, Spotify used a peer-to-peer system. This means users shared music directly with each other. But in 2014, it changed to a server-client system. This means music comes from Spotify's own computers.
In 2016, Martin Lorentzon stepped down as chairman. Daniel Ek took over that role. He also continued as CEO. By April 2019, Spotify had 217 million active users. In 2017, Billboard magazine called Ek the most powerful person in the music industry. In May 2022, Ek invested more money into Spotify. He bought more shares because he believed in the company's future.
Neko Health
In 2018, Daniel Ek co-founded a medical technology company. It is called Neko Health. He started it with an engineer named Hjalmar Nilsonne. In 2023, the company showed its new technology. It uses sensors and artificial intelligence (AI). This technology can scan the whole body without touching it. It collects and checks health data. Ek first funded the company himself. Now, other investors also support it. As of 2024, Neko Health works in Stockholm and London.
Daniel Ek's Views
In 2016, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon wrote an open letter. They sent it to the Swedish government. They said that if Sweden did not change some laws, Spotify might have to leave the country. These laws were about housing, taxes, and education.
Ek explained that high taxes on stock options in Sweden made it hard. Stock options are a way to give employees a share in the company. Startups found it hard to compete with bigger companies for talented programmers. This was because of the taxes. He also said that rules for building homes in Sweden were too strict. This limited the number of affordable homes.
Personal life
In 2016, Daniel Ek married Sofia Levander. They had been together for a long time. Their wedding took place at Lake Como. Famous singer Bruno Mars performed at the wedding. Comedian Chris Rock was the officiant. Many guests attended, including Mark Zuckerberg. Daniel Ek and his wife have two daughters.
Ek is a big fan of the Premier League football club Arsenal. In April 2021, he said he was interested in buying the club. This would happen if it was for sale. In May 2021, he made an offer to buy Arsenal for about £1.8 billion. However, the club's owners turned down his offer.
